Six people had to be evacuated from their homes last night after a 100-ft tree came crashing down as the area was hit by the strongest winds in the country.

The drama began around midnight after a call was made to police from St Mark's vicarage in Greenhead Road, Keighley.

People from five homes were evacuated to the vicarage as a precautionary measure and the tree collapsed at 12.20am.

The beech tree had threatened to fall on the bungalow home of 65-year-old Harry Palmer and his wife Irene. As it fell it hit a wall and twisted away from homes across Greenhead Road, blocking one side of the carriageway.

Mr Palmer said: "If it had gone the other way we would have had it. It would have fallen right across towards our bedroom where we were sleeping.

"I could see the grass in the garden moving up and down as the tree swayed. It was quite frightening. It was a strong wind."

The alarm was raised by Gareth Jamieson who lives next door at Utley Vicarage. He said: "I opened the bedroom window and saw the garden moving up and down, between six inches and a foot is quite a sight. I knew I wouldn't want to be sleeping near that tree so I telephoned the police.

"When it came down it made a tremendous crash and luckily went across the road, where it also hit a lamp post."

Press Association's senior forecaster Michael Dukes told the Telegraph & Argus that wind speeds of 65 knots - over 70mph - were recorded in Leeds at 3pm.

He said: "It was a very windy weekend. On Saturday in northern Scotland there were gusts of over 100mph but yesterday it was West Yorkshire's turn to be hardest hit.''

Firefighters were called to dislodge a large lump of lead hanging from the roof of a Keighley shop.

The 20ft by 10ft section of lead flashing had become loose on the roof of Quikkies Kebab shop, in Cavendish Street, due to the windy weather. Firefighters used a turntable ladder to reach the flashing which weighed around 150kg and was flapping in the gale.

A spokesman for Keighley Fire Station, said: "It could have been very dangerous. It might have fallen off and hit someone.''

There were difficulties for rail commuters between Bradford and Ilkley this morning when services had to be cancelled. A Railtrack spokeswoman said a tree had been blown onto overhead lines between Apperley junction and Esholt.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.